THE READER

Kaaaaaaate Winslet. The movies she does are weird. I think it started with THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE, which was "Kevin Spacey-weird" and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, which was "artsy weird," and then she just tumbled sideways from there. FINDING NEVERLAND was normal enough, I guess, with its child befriending a man who thinks he's Peter Pan...okay, no, that was weird, too! Now I don't confuse "weird" with "bad"--I think both ETERNAL SUNSHINE and NEVERLAND were great pictures--and I actually really liked DAVID GALE, too--but their plots are "unique" to say the least. But post-NEVERLAND came LITTLE CHILDREN, then a stop into bland, vapid normality with THE HOLIDAY, and now she's back in the weird zone with THE READER. So I think Kate Winslet has chosen her genre. Slice of weird life? She likes it.

I didn't know anything about this film, THE READER. I just went for it due to its Oscar-worthiness (weird Winslet = awards and accolades) and at the behest of a friend...we'll call him TiVo (he is mad organised about his TiVo). So as it was starting, my mind was trying to figure out the plot: she's a spy! No, she's...a prostitute! No, she's a murderer--she is GOING TO MURDER HIM! No, wait, she is definitely just a spy.

I was wrong on all guesses.

I think my lack of context for the action led to my belated realisation that this film, which takes place in post-WW2 Germany, could not be classified merely as a thriller or spy movie or prostitution movie (should that genre ever reach the mainstream--beyond the likes of PRETTY WOMAN, that is). For starters, it's none of those things. THE READER is an historical drama based on the coming-of-age love affair that a cute, German lad has with an older German lass who (oh wait for it) used to work at Auschwitz. Whoops! She didn't mention THAT on the first date! Guess we should have expected it with Kate Winslet starring.

My problem with THE READER is not this plot that it eventually embraces; it's the meandering way by which it finally gets there. For starters, it threads together present day and past with such unfortunate fluidity as to render context confusing. If time were so important to the play of events, full-screen date stamps would have been more useful than lower-thirds, my editor friends. I read the dates but passed them over and didn't realise how truly crucial they were within the story. I spent an unfortunate bit of time wondering who Ralph Fiennes was supposed to be. But sure, that could be dismissed as my fault. If I had read the dates with more attention, or at least watched the trailer before heading to the theatre, I would have been in better shape. So for actual starters, let's take a look at that trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1750597657/

Hey, I've never posted a trailer before. But this one deserves the post, because man, the movie advertised in this trailer looks exciting! I want to see this movie! There are tears; there's some sex; there are violins....You can almost hear the Foreign Press salivating. It's too bad this isn't the movie I saw.

My problem--the "meandering" I mentioned--is that, unlike its trailer, THE READER is boring. It's slow, and sadly, feels a little...I'm sorry, but feels a little pointless. The Germans Behaving Badly plot--along with the Germans Feeling Guilty about Behaving Badly uber-plot (i.e., winner of German Meta-Plot of the Century)--is ubiquitous, and its portrayal begs the inclusion of a lesson learned or taught. In LA VIE DES AUTRES/THE LIVES OF OTHERS, we saw the lesson with the last freeze frame of Ulrich Muhe's face at the film's close: his character had learned to feel, had finally learned to separate The State from his state of mind.

Not every film needs a lesson, but I felt THE READER suffered from lack of one. I believe the intended one was "Even good people do bad things," but our director didn't seem to carry it home. We received Hanna's sorrow (Hanna is Winslet's character), about a third into the film, when she cries in a church, but years later when on trial, she doesn't seem to return to that remorse, instead succumbing to pride. And a film about Germans Feeling Guilty about Behaving Badly should definitely involve a healthy scoop of remorse.

I felt that Michael, Hanna's lover (played by Fiennes when older and the dashing David Kross when young), tried to bear the weight of her guilt for her--but even he failed to support her beneath the pressure of it all. I was disconnected, therefore, from both their emotions, and unfortunately ended up thinking, "Is that it?" when the credits rolled. Perhaps some more dialogue from either party would have helped. But I get it--they were both German in the typical sense, both reserved, private people. When words failed, there were tears. I think as an audience member, however, I would have appreciated more words. Or at least more violins. Something that gave me that cue: here is where you should feel bad. Because there are times when it pays to be a little "meta."

plot: Fraulein lives a guilty life.
thought: Not a thriller, just depressing.
in five: 2.5/5

watch THE READER: http://thereader-movie.com/